Frederick greening



UNITED STATES LATENT ric-E.

FREDERICK GREENING, OF UXBRIDGE, COUNTY OF MIDDLE SEX, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JOHN FROST, OF SAME PLACE.

PROCESS OF PRODUCTION OF MATERIAL AS SUBSTITUTE FOR lNDlA-RUBBER, dc.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 401,269, dated April 9, 1889.

Application filed June 28, 1887. Serial No. 242,786. (No specimens.) Patented in England June 26, 1886, No. 8,442;

June 15, 1887, No. 184,247, and in Belgium June 20, 1887, No. 77,879.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK GREENING, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Uxbridge, in the county of Middlesex England, have invented a new or Improved Process of Production of Material that can be used as or in the Making of Substitutes for India-R ubber, Varnish, Ivory, TVhalebone, and otherSubstances, (for which I have obtained Letters Patent as follows: In Great- Britain, June 26, 1886, No. 8,442; in France June 15, 1887, No. 184,247, and in Belgium June 20, 1.887, No. 77,879, the said patents of France and Belgium being in the name of Frederick Greening and John Frost) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to anew or improved manufacture of material that can be used as or in the production of substitutes for indiarubber, gutta-percha, ivory, whalebone, varnish, or coating for protecting oil-paintings, Water-color drawings, &7C-, for coating and preserving eggs, for waterproofing, capsuling, or covering, or for coating metals or wood, or as a substitute for oil in mixing colors, and for other purposes.

In the manufacture of material such as celluloid it has heretofore been usual, in the preparation of the base, to use a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids, thus rendering the product explosive and dangerous to manufacture and use, besides necessitating the employment of expensive solvents-such as sulphuric ether, camphor, and others-for effecting the reduction of the base either to a plastic mass or a solution.

Now this invention has for its object to produce a material that may be employed in lieu of celluloid, and for purposes such as above indicated, and which shall be of a less explosive and less dangerous nature and can be manufactured without the use of expensive solvents such as referred to above.

In carrying out this invention fibrous substance of any suitable kind-such as paper, old rags, grass, cotton, &c.is treated by steeping or saturating with a mixture of sulphuric acid and nitrate of pot-ash. Suitable proportions are, say, three parts, by weight, of sulin France phuric acid (specific gravity 1.840) to two hot water circulating in the jacket of a jack;

cted pan or in a coil) to a temperature of, say, about from to Fahrenheit. The mixture being in this state, the fiber is now immersed in it and is thoroughly saturated.

The immersion is continued and the temper- 6o ature is maintained for, say, from twenty to twenty-four hours, or until it is found that the conversion has taken place. The converted fiber isthen freed from excess of the mixture by pressure or otherwise, is well washed with water, and is dried sufficiently to be submitted to a suitable bath for neutralizing or counteracting the effect of any trace of free acid remaining. I prefer, however, in practice to subject the converted fiber to a bath of liquid carbonic acid or of carbonic-acid gas, as the material obtained by dissolving the said fiber or soluble base in a solvent is transparent, while if the fiber is treated with an alkali the resulting product is opaque or translucent. The fibrous mass is to be thoroughly impregnated with the carbonic acid and afterward allowed to dry. TVhen dry, it will be ready to be treated with a suitable solvent or solvents.

A suitable solvent is produced as follows: To one hundred gallons of methylated alcohol are added, say, from twenty-five to fifty pounds weight of refined rosin or colophony; also, from ten to twelve pounds weight of gum benzoin or benjamin, and from eighty to one hundred pounds of castor-oil. The whole is thoroughly mixed and afterward distilled gradually in a still or retort until the temperature reaches, say, from 300 to 320 Fahrenheit. The distillate thus obtained is dried by any suitable means. It may be by redistilling over anhydrous lime or calcium chlo ride, to which, if required,there maybe added some light hydrocarbon, either from the coaltar series (such as benzole or coal-tar naphtha) or from the wood series (such as woodtar;) or the hydrocarbon maybe added to the solvent is distilled) have been found to give satisfactory results. The addition of hydrocarbon serves to counteract the tendency of the solvent to absorb moisture from the air.

The base, obtained as hereinbefore described, is dissolved in the solvent and forms a quick-drying mass orsolution. It is treated or used as follows: hen the materal or base is to be used as a substitute for india-rubber, ivory, whalebone, and the like, it is mixed with or dissolved in a suitable proportion of solvent, so as to form a thick plastic mass, which is passed between heated rolls, whereby the material is dried and formed into hard flexible sheets, ready for use. A suitable temperature to which to heat the rolls is, say, about 100 Fahrenheit.

The material may be made of any desired color by the addition of suitable coloring agents to the plastic mass. For instance,

coloring agents-such as aniline dyes or the.

ordinary pign1entsmay be used in proportions that may be varied in accordance with the tint or the density desired to be given to the finished material.

When the dissolved material or base is to be used as a varnish or coating for protecting or preserving purposes, as hereinbefore mentioned, the proportion of solvent used is such as to form a thin solution, which may be applied in any suitable Way to the articles or substances to be coated. Thus for coating paintings or metals for waterproofing and the like the solution may be applied in any suitable way. It may be by a brush. For coating eggs, capsuling bottles, and the like, simple immersion of the egg or of the mouth end of the bottle-neck with its contained cork or stopper is sufficient, the coating of solution (in each case) rapidly drying after withdrawal from the bath, and so forming an efficient protective covering.

The product remaining in the still or retort after the first hereinbefore-mentioned distillation is suitable for waterproofing or for mixing with the prepared base hereinbefore described. For this purpose it is thinned down to any desired consistency by the addition of the solvent and is applied as before. This forms a good protective coating substance or solution that may, in some cases, be used as a priming-coat to an object, to be afterward coated with a solution of the base only in the solvent.

I am aware that it is old to prepare soluble cotton by soaking the same in a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids, then Washing out the traces of acid by an alkaline solution, and then drying the product; but

What I claim is 1. The herein-described process of producing f1 om fibrous substance a soluble base, conthen drying the converted fiber, and then treating the same with a suitable solvent, as herein described.

3. The process of treating fibrous substances, consisting of subjecting the same to a mixture of sulphuric acid and nitrate of potash, washing the converted fiber, subjecting the same to a bath of liquid carbonic acid or carbonic-acid gas, then drying the converted fiber, and then treating the same with a solvent composed of a mixture of methylated alcohol, rosin,or colophony, gum benzoin or benjamin, and castor-oil, substantially as described.

4. The process of treating fibrous substances with a heated mixture of sulphuric acid and nitrate of potash, then freeing the converted fiber from excess of the mixture, washing it with water, partially drying it, subjecting it to a bath of liquid carbonic acid or of carbonic-acid gas, then drying it, then treatr ing it with a distillate composed of a mixture of methylated alcohol, rosin, or colophony, gum benzoin or benjamin, castor-oil, and light hydrocarbon, substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing. witnesses.

FREDERICK GREENING.

WVitnesses:

W. LLOYD WIsE, Patent Agent, London.

F. J. BROUGHAM, 46 LiflCOZflSIHH'FiZdS, London, W O.

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